


Blackest Eyes

by jardinsdeminuit



Series: Corrupted Blood [2]
Category: Diabolik Lovers
Genre: Angst, Blood Drinking, Canon-Typical Violence, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Drama, Dubious Consent, Established Relationship, F/M, Flashbacks, Horror, Laito is kind of scary in this one, Smut, Suspense, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:28:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jardinsdeminuit/pseuds/jardinsdeminuit
Summary: An offhand comment from Ayato sends Laito into a frenzy.
Relationships: Komori Yui/Sakamaki Laito, Sakamaki Laito/Reader
Series: Corrupted Blood [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050755
Comments: 16
Kudos: 38





	1. Midnight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I think it works surprisingly well as three parts (plus I get to up the suspense a little bit before posting the ending lol). Please enjoy this little story from Laito's POV, set after the events of TINF. Hopefully a lot of questions are answered and new mysteries opened up!
> 
> The title is taken from the Porcupine Tree song of the same name. While I generally try not to go OTT with the naming fics after music, I don't think I've ever found a better song to sum up Laito's character than this one. I highly recommend a listen! (Inb4: I know Laito's eyes are green. Perhaps there's another reason for the title...)

_A mother sings a lullaby to a child_

_Sometime in the future the boy goes wild_

_And all his nerves are feeling some kind of energy_

— _Blackest Eyes, Porcupine Tree_

Beneath the Sakamaki mansion lies a dungeon. It's a cold, unwelcoming place, accessible only by a single staircase leading down from the pantry. The stone walls are constantly damp to the touch, and the cold air that trickles through the cracks in the ceiling shrouds the room in a permanent cold. All of the brothers have their own reasons for avoiding this place: most of them have been imprisoned here at least once, either by the servants or one another. Laito, in particular, almost never comes down here. Just the sight of the hatch in the floor is usually enough to sap the humour from his bones.

Today, though, he manages to keep a surprisingly level mood as he descends the stone staircase. He feels almost cheerful, humming to himself and bouncing on his heels. When he reaches the bottom, he takes the keys off the hook and opens up the wooden door.

A flick of the switch on the wall sets the lights humming. Laito counts the flickers on the bulbs – one, two – and then the basement is bathed with yellow light. The cells lining the wall on the left are left dark, and looking up, Laito sees why. One of the bulbs has fizzled out.

“I'll have to see to that later on,” he says, walking up and tapping it with a fingertip. He's not even sure if they have any bulbs that fit in the house. After all, he's never had to change a light down here. “You don't mind staying in the dark for a while, do you?”

He laughs as he realises what he's saying. A blown bulb isn't going to make a difference when it's dark down here all the time, anyway.

As expected, there's no reply to his question. Laito smirks to himself, walks over to the wooden bench at the end of the room and places the item he's been carrying down. How long has it been since he last came down here? A week? He barely keeps count anymore. In the first month, he'd kept a strict schedule of visiting this room every three days. Those were the worst. Just the musty smell had been enough to stir up memories he's done his best to bury over the years. Nowadays, though, he has no problem coming down. It's relaxing, in a way, to have a place where he can spend a few minutes alone.

Well, _almost_ alone.

“We had takoyaki last night. I was going to bring you some of my share, but Ayato ended up eating it all. Personally, I didn't mind. I've always had a sweet tooth, myself, though it would have been nice to share. You would have liked them.” Stretching his arms above his head, Laito saunters over to the nearest cell, footsteps ringing against the stone floor.

He stops as his shoe knocks into something, and looks down. It's a ceramic plate left over from last time. The food on it has begun to rot. Laito can detect the acrid, slightly sweet smell from where he stands.

“You should eat, you know. There can't be much else to do in that cell.” He pauses. “What about if I brought you a book? We have enough in the mansion, as it is. I'm sure nobody would even notice if one went missing. Or, if you'd like, I could ask Reiji for one. He has a whole bookshelf in his room. I think it's mainly non-fiction, though. Nature, chemistry, that sort of stuff. I've never found it that interesting. Romance is more my kind of thing.”

The silence between his sentences is like an oppressive fog that smothers the room. Laito's happy to keep rambling just to hear some kind of noise.

“Talking about romance,” he says, leaning forward and wrapping a hand around a bar, “I've got a story you might be interested in. I suppose you could count it as non-fiction. A memoir, perhaps?” He giggles. “It happened to me just this week, in fact. Care to listen?”

*

A single figure stood on the rooftop, staring up at the moon. The breeze that blew through the air whipped his jacket and hair around him, but apart from that, he was utterly still, as if caught in a trance.

“Oh, I didn't expect to see you here.”

The figure waited a few seconds before tearing his gaze from the moon. “You sound disappointed, Ayato,” he said.

“'Course I am. I wanted some peace and quiet.”

A smile lifted the corner of Laito's lips. “You can have it. I wasn't planning on speaking, anyway.”

With an irritated tut, Ayato strutted across the roof and sat down on the edge a short distance away from his brother. This side of the mansion faced north, giving them a view of the drive and the dark road that disappeared into the forest.

Despite his complaints, Ayato was the first to speak again, breaking the silence. “Where is she?”

Laito didn't need to ask who he meant by 'she'. There was only one woman in the mansion he could be talking about. “In my room. She said she was feeling light-headed, so she went to bed.”

This time, Ayato's grunt of disapproval was so soft, Laito barely heard it against the wind. He knew his brother was fairly open with his mood swings, but he seemed more wound up than usual tonight. Laito wondered whether something had happened downstairs with the others. He'd come up here for 'peace and quiet', after all.

Laito walked to the edge of the roof and sat down in the same way as Ayato with his legs hanging over the edge. The three floor drop to the ground looked daunting from up here, but he'd never been scared of heights. Even if he slipped, he'd be able to reappear back on the roof within a second.

As he shifted to find a more comfortable position, a bolt of pain shot up his ribs, making him wince. It may have been almost four months since his victory over Handa, but the wounds he'd received from his silver knife still hurt when he moved too quickly when he put weight on his body the wrong way. Surprisingly, the one on his thigh seemed to be healing quickly, even if it was leaving behind an unsightly scar. It was the stab wound to his gut that caused him the most problems. The memory of the blade sinking into him, the silver searing his flesh like a white-hot metal bar, remained fresh in his mind after all this time. He doubted the wounds would ever heal. Not that he had a right to complain. He was lucky to be alive at all.

“Something on your mind, Ayato?” he asked, looking over. Call it curiosity more than concern. Normally, he couldn't care less about how his brothers felt.

It took a few seconds for Ayato to answer, as if he were working out the best way to voice his thoughts. “Why do you talk about her like that?”

“Hm?” The words caught Laito off guard. “Like what?”

“Like...” Not taking his eyes from the landscape in front of him, Ayato gritted his teeth. “You said you were going to do something about it, but you haven't.”

Laito understood what he was talking about at once. The fact that Ayato was sticking his nose into his personal business made his skin prickle with anger, but he hid it behind a smile. It was a skill he'd perfected over the years.

“No doubt you're talking about Bitch-chan. What makes you think I haven't done anything to her already?”

“She's still walking, isn't she?” At last, Ayato turned his head and glared at Laito. “That night she stabbed you and pissed on the family name, you promised you'd get back at her. But four months later, nothing's happened. Why?”

Laito held his gaze for as long as he could before the weight of his eyes forced him to turn away. Ayato had a point. His memories of that night were hazy, as much from the blackthorn in his blood as the blade that had pierced his heart. He'd been screaming, weeping, cursing Yui's name when Reiji and Shu had found him, though it was Ayato who'd stayed with him throughout the night. He'd sworn revenge on Yui for her actions. And yet he'd still done nothing to act on that oath.

“As if you care about the family name,” he said. “You're just annoyed that a human managed to deceive a vampire.”

The silence told Laito that he'd hit bullseye.

“And you don't care?” asked Ayato finally. “You've gone soft, Laito. It's almost like...” His sentence trailed off, leaving Laito to finished the sentence.

“Almost like I'm in love.”

Simply saying the words out loud left Laito feeling colder than ice. He knew that was that Ayato had wanted to say, and even though he'd stopped himself, the accusation still hung there between them, like a foul-smelling fog.

“Is that what you truly believe, Ayato?” he asked slowly, injecting a warning into his voice.

“I'm not sure, anymore,” muttered Ayato.

Laito let it all sink in for a moment. The world seemed to shimmer around him a little, and he realised that it was his own growing anger making him shake. He balled his hands into fists around his trousers and let out a slow breath.

Strange, how a single line could make him feel like this. Then again, it wasn't as if he hadn't been thinking the same thing for a while now.

Ayato looked up at him as he rose to his feet. Perhaps he'd noticed that he'd pissed off his brother, though Laito doubted he realised just how much.

“Leaving?”

Laito nodded. “Going to clear my head,” he mumbled, before pushing off the roof's edge into the night.


	2. Dark Hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think getting into Laito's head and writing his POV without having it filtered through Yui's thoughts first of all is actually the best part of writing this fic. :') Even now, he's still my favourite DL character by a large margin. Also, please keep an eye on the tags. It's likely I'll add a n/c warning for Chapter 3, depending on how it goes down.
> 
> This chapter is pretty gritty with the violence, so consider this an extra warning. As always, feedback is welcome!

_Almost like you're in love._

_You've gone soft._

_In love._

_Love._

Ayato's circulated Laito's mind without relent. No matter how hard he tried to push them out or distract himself, they refused to leave. The trees sped past him as he sprinted through the forest, ducking under branches and skipping over roots, panting from the effort but knowing it would be a long time until he wore himself out.

How _dare_ Ayato say those things to him. He probably thought he was being clever, trying to get into his head like that. But what did he know about him? Laito wished he'd spoken up now, maybe even lashed out at him, but he knew at the back of his mind that doing do would only complicate things further or invite more unwanted comments.

There was only one person he had ever loved, and she had been dead for a long time. His feelings for Yui didn't go beyond a physical craving for her blood. She existed for his pleasure and nothing else. The rush he got from having her resist him, from pushing her to her limits and watching her fall apart beneath him, both mentally and physically, was the sole reason he kept her around. It was nothing to do with love so much as his own entertainment.

Why, then, hadn't he punished her yet?

Unlike the fight with Handa, which stuck in his head like a stubborn thorn, he could barely remember the first week he'd spent recovering. He'd passed in and out of consciousness like a broken, flickering lightbulb. Only two things had remained constant: the agony of his wounds, and Yui's presence at his side.

He still wasn't sure whether it was guilt or fear that had bound her to him. Perhaps she'd thought that attending to him in his time of need would make up for her deception. But no. In his waking moments, Laito had fantasised about all the things he was going to do to her once he had the strength to do so: things involving knives, whips and hot water. He'd give her marks that would last forever, just like the ones on his body that he was probably stuck with now for the rest of his life.

But then he'd recovered and just... done nothing. Life had returned to normal. That wasn't to say he never teased Yui – she was his, after all, and he had to mark his property on the regular to keep his brothers away – but it was never enough to be considered 'punishment'. Neither of them spoke about the incident with Handa. It was as if it had never happened.

The trees thinned up ahead, and Laito realised he'd reached the road. He slowed to a walking pace as he reached the verge and began to follow the road in the direction of the town. His chest rose and fell with his breaths, the cold night air crisp against his lungs. He still had a few hours of night left. It was more than enough time to do what he needed to.

When the first buildngs started to appear up ahead, Laito sped up his pace again. He hardly ever travelled to town on foot. In fact, the only times he ever came here at all were for school or the occasional late night shopping trip, and he had familiars to drive him for that. Aside from the achings pains in his thigh and abdomen, it felt pleasant to actually stretch his legs for once. He felt like a hunter once again.

_You've gone soft, Laito._

He'd show Ayato just how 'soft' he was.

Before he reached the first large housing estate, Laito took a left turn down a darknened alley. He knew exactly where he was headed. Luckily, the main streets were more or less empty at this time of night. He'd only passed one other person. The smell of alcohol on his clothes had been so strong, Laito had been able to smell it from the other side of the road.

Coming to the gates of the park, he stopped and scoured his surroundings one final time. Then, seeing he was alone, he placed a hand on the metal gate and vaulted over.

Laito been to this park many times before. He'd even brought Yui here once last autumn, back when the paths had been filled with food vendors and couples out enjoying the last of the warm days. Now, the place was empty. Without the street lamps to illuminate his path, Laito soon found himself navigating by the light of the moon. Not that it was a problem for someone with senses as acute as his.

He soon left the path and walked onto the grass between the trees, stopping every half a minute to sniff the air. It wasn't long until he caught onto an unmistakeable scent.

He wasn't alone in this park.

Lured by his senses, Laito crept forward until he saw them. A pair of bodies sat at the base of a tree up ahead, wrapped in one another. Something tickled the back of Laito's throat. It was a familiar feeling, intensified by the sight of his prey before him. He'd usually describe it as a hunger, but it was more than that: given time, the feeling would spread throughout his whole throat, making him feel parched to the point of agony and mad with lust. When that happened, there was no going back. The only way to relieve the torture was drinking blood.

Usually, he'd have Yui around for that. He'd lost count of the amount of times he'd seeked her out in the mansion just for her blood. But he didn't want to think about her now. Back before Yui had arrived, he'd often gone out like this to hunt. It wasn't a case of _needing_ blood to survive, but rather the thrill of the hunt that gave his life meaning. Normally, he'd prey on the homeless – people who society had already cast aside and wouldn't miss should they disappear. That wasn't to say that he _always_ killed. Most of the time, he just took enough to soothe his body until next time.

But tonight was different. He'd become lazy by always having his prey to hand. _Soft._ He was a hunter, a demon bred to stalk the night. He'd prove that to Ayato, as well as himself.

Laito crept as close as he dared before bending down low. He could hear the couple now, their giggles and whispered words. They probably thought they were being daring, coming out here in the early morning hours. Laito almost admired their nerve.

Closing his eyes, he drew on the ancient reseve of power that dwelled deep inside him. The air folded around him. When he opened them again, he was in the tree above the couple.

He dug his fingers into the trunk to anchor himself and glanced down. The pair still hadn't noticed him. Neither of them could have been older than twenty, still mostly clothed and sweating despite the biting cold. The man planted kisses against the woman's neck and dipped his hand beneath her underwear as she clung to him and moaned. The sound sent a shiver of pleasure down Laito's spine. He could sit here and watch them for a while, but then he felt the tickle in his throat again, stronger this time. The sound of their pulses became a pair of drums in his ears, each beat a fresh reminder of the blood that coursed through their bodies.

He couldn't take it anymore. He had to have it.

With a light push off the branch, Laito dropped onto the couple. He grabbed the man by the shoulders and threw him into the tree trunk as hard as he could, then turned to the woman. Before she could even open her mouth to scream, his lips were at her neck.

Whenever he bit Yui, he always made a game out of it, teasing and bleeding her slowly. But he wasn't in the mood for that now. He found the woman's jugular and sank his fangs in as deep as they would go, and then blood was flowing into his mouth, hot and thick and sweet. That first bite was always the best. The blood coated his throat like syrup, soothing the dry burn that had built up there.

Laito leaned forward, cradling the woman in his arms. He was on his knees, the wetness that clung to the grass soaking his trousers, but he didn't care. All that mattered was the body pressed against him, the sound of her heartbeat in his head, pumping more and more of her blood into him. Her fists hammered against his back, though the impact barely registered to Laito. He felt like he was drowning in a warm sea, floating beneath the waves, unable to breathe for the pleasure that washed over him.

He bit deeper and felt something snap beneath his teeth, causing a new rush of blood to swell forth. Laito gulped it down greedily. He couldn't remember the last time he'd let himself go like this. He rocked his hips against the woman's, placing more and more of his weight against her until she was almost completely pinned beneath him.

 _This_ was what it meant to be a vampire.

Laito wasn't sure how long he stayed like that, only that when he finally lifted his head, the woman was completely limp, eyes wide and glassy as they stared off into the darkness. Laito let her drop the short distance to the ground. His whole body trembled as he came down from his high and allowed his senses to return. His chest felt wet. Lowering his gaze, he realised he'd gotten blood all down the front of his shirt and chin.

A whimper met Laito's ears. He looked right to see the man he'd thrown aside staring at him. He was clearly still suffering from the impact of being thrown against the tree, as his eyes seemed a little unfocused and he was shaking violently, though that could have easily been from fear, as well.

“N-no,” he whispered. “Stay away.”

The moment he saw he'd caught Laito's attention, he began to push himself back past the tree. Laito stretched to his full height and walked after him. It had always fascinated him how even when they knew they were trapped, humans continued to fight on as if they had a chance of escape. He remembered telling that to Yui. He'd likened it to a fly getting caught in a web, twisting and writhing and entangling itself further, even as the spider closed in.

And yet she _had_ managed to escape him before.

He wouldn't let it happen again.

The man was about to flip onto his front when Laito brought his foot down on his ankle. He leaned his weight on him, drawing a howl from his mouth. Laito smiled. He knew he probably looked like the epitome of a nightmare right now, what with the stains down his front and the moonlight casting shadows upon his face.

“Are you going to kill me, too?” the man choked out.

Laito wanted to throw back his head and laugh. This man likely knew he only had a few seconds to live, but still wasted his breath asking useless questions. Perhaps he thought he could bargain with him, exchange something in return for his life. Humans really did the strangest things when they were desperate.

“You couldn't have loved her that much considering you didn't fight back,” said Laito.

He could practically hear the gears turning in the man's head as he decided on the best response. Finally, he muttered, “I didn't. The only reason we're out here is she didn't want her boyfriend finding out...” He pushed himself up on an arm. “I won't tell anyone if you let me go. I'll forget it all happened. Promise.”

How quick he was to denounce the woman who'd given herself to him just a few minutes ago, Laito thought. Not that he didn't understand that. Physical intimacy was best when it wasn't complicated with love, after all.

Dropping to his knees over the man, Laito lowered his face and held the man's eyes in his own. “How about I make you a deal, then?” he said slowly. “If you can look at me straight and tell me you hate that woman, I'll let you go.”

The man swallowed. Laito could hear his heartbeat, as fast as that of a little bird trapped in a closing fist. “I-I...” His bottom lip trembled. “I hate her.”

Laito giggled before letting his smile fall. “Liar.”

He raised a hand and clamped it over the man's mouth just in time to muffle his cry. Shifting his legs to better pin him against the ground, he took his other hand and angled it over his heart so that it was perpendicular to his chest. Then, ever so slowly, he began to push down.

It took a considerable amount of effort to break the skin. Even with a vampire's strength, it was no easy feat to slide his fingers in, parting flesh and ribs alike, without some kind of build-up. But Laito wasn't interested in ending this quickly. He relished the man's screams, the way his body thrashed beneath him. Just like the woman had served to quench his thirst, this man's death would satisfy another craving, though what that was, exactly, Laito couldn't tell. Perhaps it was nothing more than simple frustration.

He slid his hand in deeper. His fingers were almost in to the second knuckle now, the flesh hot and slick as it wrapped around him. But something stopped him from going further. Drawing on his strength, Laito twisted his hand a little, and the rib that had been bending against him gave way with a muted _crack_ , like an old, rotten branch snapping in half.

The man didn't move much after that. His heart was rapidly slowing as Laito's fingertips brushed it, and then, after a few seconds, it stopped altogether.

Sighing, Laito pulled back his hand, which made a wet popping sound as it left the body. Pity. He'd been enjoying that, though he had no intentions of playing with a corpse. Still, he looked down and ran his eyes over the mess that he'd made. The same blood that continued to leak from the man's chest coated Laito's hand up to the wrist. He lifted it to his mouth and ran his tongue up the length of his middle finger, then bent low and lapped at the wound, taking in as much blood as he could before it congealed in the cold night air.

When he was finished, he sat back on the body, tilted his head upwards and stared at the moon. This was how things were supposed to be, how his kind were supposed to lead their lives. Sure, he and his brothers had perfected their front to the world and managed to blend into society, but what was the point of that if he didn't allow himself to _live_ a little? Not a single part of him wasn't stained with blood: it was on his lips, his skin, his clothes, sticking his hair to his face.

And he loved it.

A smile lifted his mouth again as he closed his eyes. For the first time in a long time, even if it was just for a few moments, Laito could finally say that he was at peace.


	3. Daybreak

She was fast asleep when Laito returned, tucked beneath the covers, blonde curls fanned out around her head. He smiled and closed the door behind him, removed his shirt and draped it over the back of his armchair. Then he climbed onto the bed.

Yui's eyes fluttered open as he crawled over to her. The covers had been pulled up to her neck, though he could still see the collar of her negligee sticking out, the one that was sheer enough for him to see through to her skin.

“Laito.” She seemed surprised to see him.

Before she could lift her hands, Laito placed his own either side of her shoulders, sealing her beneath the covers like a caterpillar in a coccoon.

“Where have you been?” she asked, eyes widening a little. “Your hair... It's wet. Is it raining?”

Laito recalled the trip to the bathroom he'd made on the way. He'd splashed his face with water to get out the worst of the blood, though he'd be surprised if there wasn't still some dried into his hair that he'd missed.

He hadn't been planning on telling her where he'd gone, though now that the thought crossed his mind, he wondered if he should. How would she react if she knew what he'd done tonight? He could dress it up to her like a story, watch her face contort with fear as he described every little detail.

A rush of delight spread through him as he remembered pushing his hand through the man's chest, the way the warm flesh had sucked at his hand. Yui would never understand the joy in taking another's life. For an immortal vampire, it was the greatest show of love that gave you ownership over their soul forever. Though of course, Yui hadn't had that in mind when she'd drugged and stabbed him right here on this bed.

 _That night, you promised you'd get back at her. But four months later, nothing's happened._ Not for the first time that night, Laito heard his brother's words in his mind. He felt his mood sour.

“Are you okay?” Yui asked slowly.

Laito looked at her and forced a smile. “Mm. Why do you ask?”

“You just looked a little... vacant.”

Oh, the irony of her words, Laito thought. He was far from vacant. In fact, his head was spinning. He rarely got this fired up anymore. Perhaps it was the adrenaline left over from his kill shooting through his veins, seeking out the next thrill to satisfy his cravings.

He unpinned Yui from the bed and slipped beneath the covers with her. The heat of her body felt like heaven against his frozen skin.

The moment he pressed his lips to hers, he felt her heart lurch through his chest. Her reactions had become predictable to him now, though surprisingly, he rarely found himself getting bored. It just meant he could manipulate her to his liking more easily. A nip of her tongue earned him a muffled cry. Running his fingertips up her inner thigh made her buck her hips and rub her legs against his. She was like a flower opening up at his command.

Laito's mind drifted back to the woman he'd taken earlier on, the way she'd writhed beneath him and smashed her fists into his back. Even though he'd drunk enough to make his body feel heavy, he still felt the alluring pull of Yui's blood drawing him in like it always did when he was this close to her. Back in the beginning, when she'd only just arrived in the mansion and become his, Laito had teased her relentlessly, telling her that she'd eventually become addicted to the feeling of his fangs. The look of horror on her face had been a sight to behold. And while she may not welcome him with open arms nowadays, she resisted him far less when he bit into her, as if she were slowly coming to embrace the ecstasy of accepting him.

The feeling of something striking his wrist brought Laito's attention back to the present. He hadn't realised it, but he'd managed to wrap a hand around Yui's neck while he'd been deep in memory. His fingers dug between the tendons, easily cutting off her air supply, while she clawed at his arm in a vain attempt to pull him off.

“Lai...to...” she wheezed, eyes wide with fear.

Instead of letting go straight away, he cocked his head and watched. She looked so fragile. Of course, at this point she must know how little effort it would take for him to kill her. Snapping her neck would be as easy as breaking an old, dry twig in half, and for a moment, he considered it. That was what Ayato wanted, wasn't it? Quick or slow, a death was a death; an act of love for him, a punishment for her.

And how he _wanted_ to do it. The sight of her life fading from her eyes, her body convulsing beneath beneath him as he choked the life from her, would surely be one that remained with him all his life.

Perhaps it would even rival _her_ death: the one woman he'd ever come close to loving, yet hated with all his soul.

Just as Yui's eyes were beginning to roll back in her head, Laito let go. He could practically feel the air rush back into her lungs. She grabbed at her throat and coughed hard, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Move.”

Without giving her time to recover, Laito grabbed Yui by the arm and flipped her onto her front. He mounted her again, pushing her face into the pillows with one hand while his other fiddled with the zipper on his trousers. He couldn't name the emotion flowing through him, though he recognised it as the same one he'd felt before killing the man back in the park. It wasn't quite frustration, wasn't quite lust... Rage, perhaps? He _did_ feel angry, in a way, but that wasn't it.

Yui didn't resist beyond a cry as he pushed into her. The heat of her insides surrounded him, caressed him, made him shudder and groan. He slipped a hand beneath her negligee to squeeze the soft mounds of her breasts, and then he was thrusting into her as roughly as he could, paying little attention to her anguished moans and pleas to slow down.

He'd taken her countless times before right here on this bed. In fact, he couldn't remember a night in recent memory that hadn't ended with some kind of intimacy between them both. Usually, Laito enjoyed being dominant, but sometimes, he allowed her to switch it around. The feeling of Yui taking control of him, even if he was the one pulling the strings underneath it all, was something he could easily get addicted to. Not to mention he loved to watch her ride him, hear her trying to hold back gasps of pleasure as her cheeks became stained the colour of humiliation.

Only then did it hit him at last.

 _Humiliation_. That was the emotion that drove him. From Yui's betrayal and Handa almost killing him all those months ago to Ayato's lecture earlier that night, Laito had been made to feel like nothing over and over. But it stretched back further than that. His whole childhood, he'd been no more than a means to make another man jealous by the woman who'd claimed to love him. Pitted against his siblings, raised in a cold, heartless household by a cold, heartless father who didn't care whether he was happy or not, only that he carried on the family name. Or if not him, one of his brothers.

It was little surprise that he hadn't gone mad.

A particularly hard thrust made Yui buck against him and scream into the pillows. Laito knew he was being rougher than usual with her tonight, and that was saying something. With a smile, he leaned forward, wrapped his hand in her hair and jerked her head back.

“What was that, Bitch-chan?” he cooed between pants. “Are you trying to say something?”

“You're... hurting me...” she whined.

Laito almost laughed. Did she really think _this_ was painful? Surely she must know just how much more he was capable of hurting her. He was in the mood for it. But instead, he slammed her head back down onto the bed, grabbed her hips and began to lay into her again. Each thrust added to the delicious pressure that built at the base of his stomach.

Yes, his life had been one humiliation over another. But he'd rose above them. He'd thrown his mother to her death; defeated Handa in combat; and now here he was, bending Yui to his desires yet again.

This was her punishment. It was clear to him now. He would continue to own her, breaking her down bit by bit until there was little of her original self left. She would watch it all through a sheet of glass, yearning for an end but powerless to do anything about it.

Ayato was wrong. He didn't need torture instruments to make Yui pay for betraying him. A life of servitude at his hands would more than suffice.

She would fall, just like him. Humiliation, over and over and over.

And surely that was worse than death itself. Who else would know about that better than him?

*

The basement is quiet again the moment Laito finishes talking.

It's strange to him just how much the silence lingers down here. Usually when he's up in the main part of the mansion, he can pick up a constant feed of sounds, whether that's his brothers talking several rooms away or the wind stirring against the ancient windows. Down here, it's like a different world together. The only things he can hear are the faint buzzing of the lightbulbs and his own breaths.

He sits cross-legged in front of the darkened cell. His audience gives no indication that they've been listening to his story. Not that it bothers him. He feels all the better for having gotten it out of his system, and besides, it's not like it's going anywhere else after tonight.

“Well, I'm not sure there's much more to say,” says Laito. He slaps his knees before pushing himself to his feet. His legs ache a little after so long sitting down, though it's the wound in his abdomen that makes him wince more than anything.

He lifts up his shirt, revealing the pink scar just below his ribcage. It's still raw around the edges. Sometimes it bursts open if he stretches too far, though luckily, he's managed to avoid that for a while.

“Four months. You'd think it would have healed by now.” He pushes his shirt down with a sigh. “Though I guess I have you to blame for that, don't I?”

He can't help but flash a smile as he looks up. For the first time since his arrival, the figure behind the bars is looking at him. Laito finds himself staring into eyes a shade of brown so dark they're almost black. He heard Yui describe them as like looking into a void once, and Laito finds it a phrase that gets truer and truer every time he comes down here.

“You know,” he says, walking over to the bench at the end of the room, “I have a lot to thank you for. Immortality is both a blessing and a curse for creatures like us. We have all the time in the world to do what we want, but run the risk of the years blending into one. That's why death is such a gift. It's a release from it all.”

When he reaches the bench, he picks up the tool he brought down with him and inspects it. The sledgehammer is as long as his legs and surprisingly heavy thanks to its thick iron head. Laito tests its weight with one hand, then turns back to the cell. He can already sense the cracks forming in his prisoner's expression. They both know what's coming up.

Laito's heels click against the floor as he makes his way back. “Before I met you, I was just cruising along in life. I was ashamed of myself, of what I'd been made to be. I thought I'd welcome death when it came. Because of you, I almost died at Bitch-chan's hands. It was the perfect setup...” He feels the heat rise to his cheeks at the memory. Their bodies melted together, her eyes alive with hatred as she drove the knife into his heart. “But I guess it took me that to realise death isn't for me. At least, not right now. There are so many things I want to do first, so many ways I can _live_.”

“Humiliation can be a blessing, you see. No longer caring about how you appear in the eyes of others and liviving only for pleasure is truly liberating. I aim to wring everything I can from this filthy existence, and then, when it's finally time for my death...” Laito runs his free hand up his neck and shivers. “It'll be the most beautiful gift.”

He knows his words probably make little sense to the one in the cell, but he delights in them all the same. He feels strangely excited, his body tingling all over. He supposes this is what religious texts call an epiphany. And here he was thinking that religion was bullshit.

A laugh rips from his mouth. “Sorry, sorry. I'm whittering away to myself when you probably just want me to get on with it.” As he speaks, Laito reaches into his pocket, removes the ring of keys and places the correct one into the lock of the cell. The door swings open with a _click_.

As always, Laito tenses his shoulders, ready to strike the man down should he try to attack him or escape. But of course, he doesn't move. Even if he were capable of doing so with his body as it is, Laito suspects his spirit broke long ago. In a way, he's disappointed. He'd have thought that a man such as this one would be able to hold out for longer.

“I still wonder if I should have killed you that night,” Laito mutters. “But I like these little talks we have. Don't you? I find it helps to organise my thoughts. As for you, well, I imagine it gives you something to look forward to. Since you won't even accept a book, there's nothing else for you to do down here.”

The man's bare feet poke out from underneath his trousers. Both of them flop outwards at slightly unnatural angles, though the right one is worse. Laito pokes at it with the tip of his shoe, earning himself a hiss. He completely shattered that ankle last time he was down here, and yet it's reformed almost completely. Another few days and he might even be able to stand up. Laito clicks his tongue. Maybe he should start counting the time between visits, after all.

“You know, it was Ayato who gave me the idea,” he says. “He suggested doing something like this to punish Bitch-chan. I even considered it for a while. That's another curse we share as a species, isn't it? Healing over and over. A human would probably never recover from this, but with our powers, I have to keep coming back every week to make sure you stay put.”

Not that he has reason to complain. While this whole process has become a routine to him now, there's still a part of his sadistic side that looks forward to these visits, especially knowing who it is on the receiving end.

He should have died that night in the woods when Laito ripped out his throat. A weaker vampire would have. But Kazue Handa has proved time and time again to be a formidable opponent. The injury left him unconscious, and it was only hours later, as he woke up to his weak thumping against the lid of the coffin, that Laito realised it hadn't been enough.

He's glad, though. Confining Handa down here feels like a little secret none of his brothers have caught on to. He still hasn't decided when he'll tell Yui, or if he even will. For now, he's content with keeping it to himself.

“All right, I'm ready,” says Laito with a giggle. “Can't have you escaping now, can we?”

He takes his place in front of Handa at an angle. It's little more than instinct to him now. He knows the best way to stand, how to hold the sledgehammer to maximise the chance of breaking each ankle in one. Handa knows this, too. Perhaps, like Laito, he's remembering the first time, back when he still thought he still had a chance of fighting his way out the cell. He struggled so hard, Laito missed the first blow completely and ended up cracking the base of his shin instead.

Ever since then, he's complied for his own sake. It's not as if he has any other option.

As he raises the sledgehammer, Laito catches Handa's face, and once again, it's his eyes that strike him. Despite the anguish in his expression, the way his body slumps, defeated, against the cell wall, those black voids remain steadfast. It's enough to send a rare shiver down the pureblood's spine.

Tearing his gaze away, Laito takes a breath and brings the hammer down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, this was a hard chapter to write, but I think I managed to get across the emotions I wanted. I've come to think of this short story as an epilogue for Laito and a way for him to process his emotions, not only from the events of TINF, but his whole mess of a life. His whole response of "Yes, I've been done dirty, but I'm going to just ride with it and use it to power me" is very much a Laito-ish way of thinking, at least from my point of view :')
> 
> The strangest thing about this story was including a sex scene where the actual sex wasn't the main focus, though it makes a nice change for me to write something different than usual.
> 
> I had so much fun with this! I'm planning a third part set several months after this one, which will complete Laito and Yui's story. As it'll be a longer, multi-chaptered story, I'm going to take a short break and aim for early 2021 to start uploading. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this series so far. Leave a comment if you liked it! I love reading what people think. ❤


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